Human Resource Strategy
As a Japan-origin global corporate group operating in 48 countries and regions worldwide, including in China and other parts of Asia, Nippon Paint Group is committed to contributing to Maximization of Shareholder Value (MSV) by leveraging the diversity and strengths of its human capital, as well as fulfilling its obligations to stakeholders, which is the premise of MSV.
Nippon Paint Group Statement regarding Employee Development
To ensure the sustainable growth of Nippon Paint Group, it is essential that we attract, develop, and retain a skilled workforce. We aim to foster a corporate culture and working environment that is rewarding, enabling individuals to leverage their unique qualities and capabilities to the fullest extent.
In Nippon Paint Group, which values the autonomy of Partner Companies*1 and operates on autonomous and decentralized management principles, each Partner Company Group*2 takes the lead in investing in human capital. This investment is approached with a comprehensive and long-term perspective that aligns with the characteristics of each country, region, and business field. Each Partner Company within the Partner Company Groups initiates programs for employee competency development tailored to their specific needs, nurturing a diverse and self-reliant human resource pool.
Nippon Paint Group not only establishes a personnel system that suits the locality and characteristics of each country and region but also cultivates outstanding talent, serving as the driving force behind our business. This is achieved through the provision of customized training programs and diverse career development opportunities tailored to each company's challenges. These efforts lay the foundation for building a diverse and robust organization.
*1 Consolidated subsidiaries of Nippon Paint Holdings
*2 Nippon Paint Group companies grouped by region or business
Our approach to achieving MSV
Our primary approach in our human resource strategy to achieve MSV is to build a strong and diverse organization with excellent human capital. This will enable us to consistently achieve strong growth.
People play a vital role in an organization as they are the driving force behind business growth. In successful partner companies, powerful teams consisting of diverse individuals, along with excellent leadership teams, act as the driving force. It's important to recognize that achieving goals cannot be done alone.
Given that the market undergoes long-term changes, we need a human resource base that can not only adapt to these changes but also capitalize on them with agility. People can embrace change and seize opportunities, even if they encounter failures while taking risks to pursue their objectives, as long as they accept and learn from those failures. To attain MSV, it is crucial to foster a dynamic and open corporate culture, as well as a pleasant and rewarding work environment that encourages every employee to take on challenges and fully showcase their unique qualities and abilities in generating new value and businesses.
We will make appropriate investments in human capital to establish an organization that can grow sustainably. From a technological standpoint, this means investing in human capital with a long-term perspective towards developing innovative and productive technologies, while also implementing tailored personnel systems.
The People & Community Team conducts activities around two categories of Materiality: Diversity & Inclusion as well as Growth with Communities. Our activities are conducted in each country and region with focus on the three pillars of (1) Increasing the ratio of women in managerial positions, (2) Celebrating diversity, and (3) Building and enabling local communities.
Our goal is to achieve sustainable EPS growth through productivity improvement enabled by maintaining employee motivation and increasing employee engagement, as well as reducing expenses for employee recruitment and retention. We are also committed to fully fulfilling our obligations to employees.
The key initiatives for building strong teams include enhancing the training programs by using the amount of training hours and education investments as KPIs as detailed in the following pages and implementing various actions such as promoting women’s empowerment based on the ratio of women in managerial positions as KPI with the goal of raising the ratio to 35% by 2025 at NIPSEA Group.
However, achieving these KPIs is not the objective of our initiatives. Rather, these initiatives are aimed at increasing the Group’s social recognition as an organization that embraces diverse thinking and is willing to transform. We believe this will attract more excellent talent regardless of age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion and other factors, who will be the driving force for further transformation of the Group, creating synergies. What we see as crucial is to create an environment that allows our excellent talent to play greater roles and add value. We believe such an environment will have a positive impact on the top line and bottom line by improving work efficiency and bringing about transformation, and in turn may contribute to MSV.
Metrics and results related to human capital (2023)
| NIPSEA Group | DuluxGroup | Dunn-Edwards | Japan Group | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ratio of female employees | 24.9% | 33.6% | 29.4% | 22.4% | 26.6% |
| Ratio of women in managerial positions | 23.7% | 30.1% | 35.3% | 6.4% | 24.9% |
Human resource development measures essential for achieving MSV
For Nippon Paint Group to grow in a sustainable manner, it is essential that we secure skilled human resources and offer a corporate culture and working environment in which it is pleasant and rewarding to work, thus allowing people to leverage their individuality and capabilities to the fullest.
We focus on developing talent and capability of employees and attract talent and skilled individuals by promoting opportunities for professional growth and advancement, rewarding employee performance. The Group promoted the enhancement of human resources by investing in human capital through the intensification of training programs developed autonomously by each partner company according to the challenges faced.
We believe expanding training programs will have a direct benefit of enhancing employees’ skills, as well as other benefits such as maintaining employee motivation and engagement, improving competitive advantage in hiring new college graduates and mid-career people and reducing the turnover ratio. Accordingly, it is a key initiative for enhancing the human resource portfolio.
DuluxGroup
At DuluxGroup, we understand that having a motivated, skilled, and diverse workforce is key to our ongoing success. We have a strong culture of development, with our leaders dedicated to continuously developing their people at all levels of the business. To support this, we have formal learning programs specific to the relevant business, geography and role. DGL (Pacific) offers a comprehensive learning program encompassing leadership, professional skills, functional skills and product training, including residential programs, external programs, virtual programs, livestreams and podcasts.
We encourage our employees to “Own your Growth” and take advantage of the formal and informal learning opportunities that we offer to all our people. Similarly, Cromology and JUB offer relevant learning programs to support the business and professional skills of their employees. This includes employee induction; compulsory training to meet legislative and internal regulations; professional skills training and leadership skills.NIPSEA Group
At NIPSEA Group, we believe that continuous learning and employee engagement are fundamental to building a resilient and forward-thinking workforce. In 2024, we continued to invest in Group-level training, leadership development, and employee engagement initiatives to enhance technical expertise, function competencies, and leadership capabilities across our organization. We continue to see strong engagement in our learning initiatives, with increasing participation across the Group. Participation in our learning initiatives remains strong, with over 9,000 active users on the NIPSEA Learning Management System in FY2024.
Dunn-Edwards
At Dunn-Edwards, our training objective is to continuously develop and deliver programs that not only provide our team members with the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful in their current roles, but also those that will aid them in longterm professional development.In this process, we leverage both technology (learning management systems, interactive programs, etc.) and current training techniques (micro learning, hands-on sessions, etc.) to ensure our team members are provided a wide variety of tools and resources to build successful careers in an ever-evolving workplace. Internal training programs include New-hire Orientations customized by department, position-specific programs in Sales, Product Performance, Retail and Business Management, Labor Law, Harassment Prevention, Risk Management, Safety, Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT), Diversity and Inclusion and more. We also offer a generous Tuition Assistance Program that is available to all employees (both full-time and parttime) and provides access to not only degreed programs from accredited institutions, but also professional certification programs, vocational programs, and educational seminars.
Japan Group
Japan Group offers training for all employees, such as training by job level according to the expected roles and career stages of individual employees (new employee orientation training for new grads and mid-careers, follow-up training, new manager training, and annual training). HR in-house trainers provide performance evaluator training for all managers and leadership program for employees in each layer. Additionally, we've started selective training (learning palette), in which employees choose their own programs to attend. We have been carrying out talent management process across Japan group to develop our talents group-wide.
Training programs
DuluxGroup
Comprehensive learning program covering leadership and professional skills
- Residential programs, external programs, virtual programs, livestreams and podcasts and DGx - a one-day live event covering a range of different learning topics
- Cromology and JUB offer relevant learning programs to support the business and professional skills of their employees
NIPSEA Group
As we move forward, NIPSEA Group remains committed to enhancing employee development opportunities, ensuring that learning remains an integral part of our culture
- NIPSEA Talent Development Program “LEAD”: A structured leadership program designed to equip employees with the skills to excel in dynamic business environments
- NIPSEA Female Mentorship Program: A platform to nurture aspiring women leaders through mentorship and peer support
- Strategic Marketing Competencies training - In-house developed program designed to equip employees with essential marketing skills aligned with our business objectives
- Learning Carnival: A Group-wide initiative that brings engaging learning opportunities to employees through expert talks, workshops, and interactive sessions
- NIPSEA Leadership Competencies Training – AGILE: Focused on developing critical leadership skills aligned with AGILE methodologies
- ESG Training: Equipping employees with sustainability knowledge to drive responsible business practices
Dunn-Edwards
Develop and deliver programs that empower team members’ long-term professional development
- Leverage both technology (learning management systems, interactive programs, etc.) and current training techniques (micro learning, hands-on sessions, etc.) to build successful careers in an ever-evolving workplace
- Position-specific programs in Sales, Product Performance, Retail and Business Management, Labor Law, Harassment Prevention, Risk Management, Safety, Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT), Diversity and Inclusion and more
Japan Group
Japan Group is reorganizing and strengthening the team dedicated to talent management for senior leaders and all employees
- Develop leaders based on each Individual Development Plan
- Deliver training programs for all employees in each layer, on-board programs for both newgraduates and mid-career employees, selective programs and programs for specific purposes such as performance evaluator training
- Enhance our leadership development programs
Benefits expected from improving employee satisfaction levels
Increasing employee engagement will lead to creating an environment where excellent human resources can consistently perform to their fullest potential. We regularly monitor and survey employee satisfaction levels of partner companies that join the Group under our Asset Assembler model. The survey results of each partner company will be compared and analyzed using benchmarks, such as the peer average in the same region, and historical data to examine actions necessary to improve employee satisfaction levels.
DuluxGroup
DuluxGroup focuses on ongoing monitoring of employee engagement through its leaders. Most recent engagement survey (80% satisfaction in FY2021) shows world-class engagement scores. We will continue to equip leaders to take up their role to lead and engage our people and reinforce connection to their purpose, as well as to their Values and Behaviors in different countries and business units.
NIPSEA Group
At NIPSEA Group, we recognize that an engaged workforce is fundamental to business success, innovation, and sustainable growth. As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we conducted the NIPSEA Group Employee Engagement Survey (EES) 2024, achieving more than a 96% completion rate across our global workforce. The insights gathered from this survey provide a data-driven approach to enhancing the overall employee experience, fostering a positive workplace culture, and shaping future talent strategies.
As we move forward, our focus remains on sustaining a culture of engagement, innovation, and empowerment, ensuring that NIPSEA Group continues to be an employer of choice across our global markets.Dunn-Edwards
Dunn-Edwards exit interview data shows that a new team member’s first year with the company is the most important period for building a connection with the organization. Important factors for employee retention include compensation, employee benefits (healthcare plans, retirement plans, vacation and leave programs, tuition assistance programs, etc.), career development opportunities, and strong leadership from those in managerial positions. To ensure Dunn-Edawards is competitive and attractive in these areas, we regularly evaluate and update our compensation and benefits offerings, while continuously developing and enhancing training programs designed for career advancement.
Japan Group
Japan Group has identified employees’ engagement as an important management issue and started the engagement survey in FY2024. The survey results showed a gap between the management, which has been promoting change for several years, and the awareness of the employees. We know the importance of strong and senior leadership, optimal talents and staffing, and an infrastructure that enables high productivity, to improve engagement and maximize employee performance. In order to promote these factors, we have adopted a CXO organization for matrix management, an EQ assessment and leadership program for executives, a revised company-wide HR evaluation system, and a project to improve operations through IT investment.